The festive season is upon us, and over the Christmas period I, like many of you, tend to completely overindulge. With friends and family visiting, and celebrations galore, comes an excessive amount of champagne and all the nibblies that go with it.
Each time I whinge about feeling bloated or heavy, I remind myself that moderation is the key. Great in theory. The problem here is that the festive season is no time to try to implement moderation or follow my general guidance of choosing the healthiest option available. It’s a time to celebrate without feeling guilty.
Now personally, I am an all or nothing kind of girl. Pour me a glass of wine and for me that means the party has started – Christmas or not. Before you know it, I’m dancing on tables and calling for another bottle…ok not really…well sometimes…but one glass of wine? Those of you who have the restraint to stick to this, I applaud you. This, however, is my one vice. I don’t deviate from a healthy diet or lifestyle terribly often, but a good Barossa Shiraz, with a cheese platter to accompany it or a bottle of French bubbly, and my restraint is out the window.
Similarly, if you are planning to indulge in something naughty, whether it be a sweet treat or a creamy pasta or something of the sort, I’d prefer to have the full fat, completely wicked version every so often rather than the low fat “you call this ice cream” version on a regular basis. I reckon if you are going to deviate, do it properly, enjoy it, just don’t make a habit of it.
Now, all this being said, just because I am endorsing that you enjoy your indulgences every now and them, and perhaps more regularly than usual over Christmas and New Years’, that 100 per cent does not mean that I think it’s a good idea to completely throw your health regime and healthy diet out the window until 2017. If I had a dollar every time I heard a friend or a fitness client say “I’ve been eating really badly for the last couple of days, I’ll just clean it up next week,” or “I’ve got a few events to go to this week so it’s going to be an unhealthy week” I’d be a permanent world traveller living on Tattinger Champagne and fromage (just kidding, but I’d have a lot of money in the bank).
What I am saying is that by all means, go to the party, eat the yummy morsels and sip away until your heart is content – within reason and drinking responsibly of course – but instead of just devouring a bacon and egg McMuffin to cure the hangover and demolishing the tub of ice-cream for dessert the next night because you’ve blown your diet, be sensible and eat as clean as you can. Keep going to the gym or your Pilates classes and work off the indulgences that you allowed yourself to enjoy.
Sticking to your regime while allowing a little more flexibility so that you don’t have to miss out, will help you to get back on track a whole lot quicker once the festive season comes to a close.
Not only is it really hard to shift the extra kilos and feel healthy again when you’ve completely dropped the ball, but it’s also ridiculously hard to find that motivation again if you’ve just thrown the towel in.
We’ve all been there after a big New Years’ Eve, and you decide that you’re just going to wait until you get back to work to get back on track, and then it turns into “I’ll clean up my act after Australia Day” and it goes on and on and on. Don’t let that happen this year.
Enjoy the festive season. Indulge and don’t feel guilty about it, but just try to stay on track for the rest of the time and your new year health kick won’t feel like such a marathon.
Happy indulging!!!
